This message could well have come on Memorial Day weekend, a time of remembering.  We Americans have short memories.  If something happened yesterday we may recall it, but wait a few days and we have likely forgotten it.  If it happened to us, we may recall it, but if it happened to others, we likely won't.  And if it happened long ago to others, we have most surely forgotten it, and a long time ago.

          June 6 this past week marked 61 years since D-Day, the climax of a war nearly forgotten.  Each year we are urged not to forget the Holocaust and the 6 million Jews who died in it.  And we shouldn't.  When people are killed for their religious beliefs, it is tragic.  And the Holocaust was.  We rarely, however, remember or even know about another Holocaust in this century, the Christians who have died only for being Christian.  Since the time of Christ, 70 million people have died for believing in Christ.  And during the 20th century, historians estimate that 40 million people - 60% - have been put to death in various ways, only because they were thought to be Christian.

          Most were not martyrs in the strict sense, that is, dying as they confessed Jesus publicly, or refusing to worship an idol.  Most are known as "new martyrs," Christians who died for their faith, not necessarily as individuals, but in whole groups, whole communities, even whole generations.

          Examples: Ukranians 1932-1935: 7 million Ukranian Christians were starved to death because they refused to accept Stalin's rule, and few people knew.  Armenians 1900 to 1923: 3.5 million Armenian and Greek Christians died at the hands of Muslim Turks, and the world literally turned its back while it happened.  Sudan and Ethiopia 1980-1999: 3 million Sudanese and Ethiopian Christians were killed by Muslim rebels during this time and some are still dying.  Two million Indonesians, one million Indians, one million Nigerians, a half million Liberians all have died, and the rest of the list reads like a world map:  Christians put to death for their faith in Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, India, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, the Balkans, Cambodia, North Korea and China.  A staggering 40 million people martyred in the 20th century, simply for being Christian!

          Yet today many secular authorities disbelieve this.  The Turks still deny they have killed the Armenians, Russians deny starving Ukranians, Chinese deny killing Christians, and the United Nations officially denies there have been any Christian martyrs at all in this past century.  Most of the world is ignorant of these numbers, and those who do know have forgotten about it.

          Today in Cappadocia (of Acts 2), in east central Turkey, near Iran and Syria, there is a series of caves carved out of tufa, a soft volcanic rock.  In a series of catacombs dug over several centuries, Christians have fled their enemies to those hand-carved rooms deep below the surface, some 200 ft. down, and lived there days and weeks in hiding.  But many died there anyway, and they represent but a small portion of those Christians killed by Hadrian, Vespasian, Sulieman and other pagan rulers.

          But this wasn't the first time.  People who believed and spoke God's truth have always been targets.  Thus, the writer of Hebrews tells us, "Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.  They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated (the world was not worthy of them).  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground."

          Imagine telling your children about Jesus, and knowing that this would make them instant outlaws.  Imagine you and your family going into hiding, crawling into the dark labyrinth of rooms, sitting in darkness with little food, water or sanitation, with little light or air at the bottom of a shaft, perhaps 200 feet down under ground, your children wondering when - or if - they can ever come out.  Then imagine the temptation to stop it all, to give up your faith, and get your life back.

          Deny Jesus - that's all it would take to end the running, end the starvation, end the fear.  Deny Him, turn your back on Him, and live!  Imagine knowing that denial would bring you enough food, re-gain old friends, and be released from fear.  All it takes is a simple act of denying Jesus and you can live!  But instead, those hundreds, those thousands, chose Jesus Christ, and with Him, an early death.

          What would we choose today?  It's a frightening question.  Would you and I remain faithful to Jesus, and face isolation and death?  Or would we cave in to pagan world and face another, a worse kind, of death?

          Hebrews 11 also tells us:  "And what more shall I say?  I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.  Women received back their dead, raised to life again."

          Today I want to urge you never to forget them, these heroes of the faith!  Let us never forget their courage, their fear of God rather than fear of men.  Let us never forget them, because our Heavenly Father does not forget them.  We even have a Sunday Bible study, "Heroes of Faith."  Go to the sessions if you can.  Don't forget them!

          It's good to remember our fallen soldiers who died defending our nation.  It's even better to remember our fallen heroes of faith, soldiers of the cross who died defending Jesus Christ, clinging to the faith and their right to believe as they wish.  This is an important part of the great faith we take for granted.

          Don't forget them!  Those who at this moment, stand in the presence of God, the white-robed martyrs, who stood faithful to their Lord Jesus in the face of death.  Don't forget them!  They don't ask us to suffer like they did, just to be remembered.  We need not stand before firing squads, or be cruelly imprisoned, or be tortured for the faith.  We just need to be faithful to Jesus and to remember them.

          They are closer to us than we think.  They are Ethiopians who sell us gasoline, or Sudanese who work housekeeping in our hospitals, or Indian doctors who treat us, or Palestinians who teach our children.  They no longer live in their homeland, because they've been chased out for their faith.  And they have left behind family and loved ones who died trying to escape the enemies of God's people.  Don't forget them!

          Hebrews 12 says, "Since we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance the race before us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus."  Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Don't forget Jesus!

          Jesus does not forget us.  He loves us, and remembers all who do not give up faith that is essential in exchange for the world that is trivial.  Jesus does not forget them.  He has a special place prepared for all who trust Him, whether for a lifetime or for a moment, whether you have shed blood for Him or shed tears.  I believe Jesus would tell all Christians today, "Don't forget them!"

          Talk to that person with the dark face behind the counter.  They are probably a brother or sister in the faith.  Ask them where they're from, why they came, and ask if they are Christian.  Most will say, "Yes!" and give you a great smile.  They have escaped, but many they know and love did not.  Don't forget them!

          God does not ask us to die for Him, only to be faithful.  He loves and forgives all, also the unfaithful.  And He welcomes us back with open arms when we repent.  Give thanks that you live where Christians are still welcomed.  Give thanks, and then live your thanks, by remembering and by welcoming them, amen.

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.